Digging Graves
by DarkFlameOfTheMonkey
Summary: In a graveyard, two robot monkeys meet again after so long. And they both realise how much has changed in the both of them. Set in future indefinite number of years on Shuggazoom City, oneshot, WOOT I finally came up with something to write! Please review


**A/N: I know I haven't written anything in ages. I haven't even reviewed anything for a while either. But I AM alive. Yeah. WOOT! I finally came up with something to write! So, if I get any more ideas, I'll be typing 'em and you'll see more of me. ;D Just give me some requests!**

**I hope you like it. Set in the future an indefinite number of years.**

**Disclaimer: If someone gave me SRMTHFG for by birthday, I would be so happy! But I don't think Ciro Nieli will give me a present like that...**

Digging Graves

Slowly, he allowed his fingers to let go of the stems.

Antauri had never particularly hated or despised autumn. In fact, he had never complained about the weather or seasons at all. But today, autumn seemed to dampen his spirit just a little more than usual.

The silver figure straightened and looked at the yellow tulip petals as they shifted slightly in the breeze. The flowers stood upright against the bleak and dotted stone. This was just another day.

Antauri looked from left to right. It was the same scene. The buildings were still there and people still walked the footpaths. He sighed. This was where the Super Robot used to stand.

There was no such Super Robot in Shuggazoom City now.

He froze as he saw another figure to his right, there with him among the grey stones that stood up as guardians of a forgotten place. The figure was short and wore a black hooded cloak, standing silently and unmoving among the graves.

Antauri left the grave he was concentrating on and walked to the second shape. "Can I help you?" To this, the cloaked silhouette didn't answer. The silver monkey gave a tiny frown, clearing his throat. There was still no acknowledgement from his companion; he didn't even turn around to face the monkey. Antauri gently reached forward to tap the person on the shoulder.

Just as his hand was about to touch him, the cloaked one twisted his head around. Antauri saw shining, yellow eyes inside the shadows of the hood. And he spoke at last.

"Do you not think I have known about this place for years, Antauri?"

The silver monkey tensed and immediately showed his purple claws. "What are you doing here?"

The figure laughed a deep, rasping laugh that was familiar to Antauri. "Do I have to repeat myself, Antauri?"

Antauri frowned harder and growled. "That is a Veran-Mystic cloak." he said harshly. "Where did you get it?" Antauri lunged forward and attempted to pull back the hood. The figure dodged to the left, but Antauri's claw caught the cloth and the figure's face was uncovered.

"Don't look at me!" the figure wailed loudly. "Don't you dare look at me!" he spat, spinning around and putting the hood back onto his head. Turning around again, he said to Antauri, "Consider yourself lucky, old friend. _Very_ lucky!"

Antauri let out a frustrated breath. "Mandarin, what are you doing here? And what have I to fear from removing your hood?" Antauri waited with a stern expression, just like he used to. "You still haven't told me where you got that cloak from."

The orange monkey grumbled to himself. "The cloak is mine. Do you not remember our days as younglings on the renowned planet of jewels?"

"Yes, my memory is quite clear, thank you." Antauri said shortly. "Now, of your business here. You know you are not welcome."

Mandarin chortled. "Can a monkey not visit the resting place of his friends in peace? Have you made it illegal on this planet, Antauri? Shall I leave, or will you take me out as a prisoner?"

Antauri took several steps back, his claws still out and ready to strike. "I'm curious." he challenged. "Life is bland; give us a story, Mandarin."

Mandarin ignored Antauri's words and pointed to the tulips. "Today is Nova's day, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

Antauri rotated his body to see what Mandarin was pointing at. "Yes." he said. "Two years to the day."

"I thought so." Mandarin said thoughtfully. He looked at the silver monkey and smiled crookedly. "Shall we not say some words together, as the family we used to be? Nova is well-deserving of it."

Antauri knitted his eyebrows together. "You've changed, Mandarin."

"Oh, there's no need to say the obvious, Antauri!" Mandarin said with another of his awful laughs. He spread his arms. "You yourself have witnessed the changes! A strong and noble warrior to a languishing outcast. A prisoner into an automated slave. A slave to...would you believe it- a rejected scrap once more!"

Antauri added, without thought, "And what of the rejected scrap? What has he turned into now?"

Mandarin's face, though covered by the hood, seemed to darken considerably. "You would not wish to see him. I hope you do not, for your sake and mine. I would lose sleep myself if you developed nightmares after viewing me now, dear Antauri!" He threw back his head and trembled with laughter. The light did not illuminate his features, for there was no sun on this cloudy autumn day. Recovering from his tittering, Mandarin addressed the silver monkey again. "So, shall we grace poor Nova with a visit or shall we not?"

Without waiting for answer Mandarin pushed past Antauri and walked to the yellow monkey's grave. The silver monkey quickly followed, anxious as to what would happen next.

The two of them stood next to each other at the rock. On the headstone was a name, a single date (for Antauri could not find out the day the robot monkeys had each been born) and an epitaph. There was one on each of the stones. Antauri could only manage to put so many words onto a headstone, and had only written the colour of the monkey onto the dark stone and his or her role on the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force. It had brought him pain to write only, 'Here lies Otto, the green-coloured monkey and expert mechanic on the SRMTHF. A friend that was always there when you needed him.', or, 'Here lies Gibson...' It looked pathetic when he had re-read it, for he knew that his friends had been so, so much more than that. But at least those who read it would know that much.

"Will you start, Antauri?"

The silver monkey thrust his chin forward. One eye was still following Mandarin closely, wondering whether a weapon of a sort was concealed somewhere in that cape. Antauri tried to recall what he had said the year before so as not to repeat himself. Remembering nothing, he decided to say something he had thought of on the spot. "Nova was unique. She had the key to all of our hearts, and the determination to carry them all at once."

The orange monkey nodded his shrouded head in agreement. Antauri pivoted his neck to look at him. "And you?" Antauri pressed. "What did you think of her?"

Mandarin inclined his head. "She was indeed unique." he said, nodding. "She was beautiful in all her aspects. Nova is sorely missed."

Antauri exhaled. "So, what is the next item on your to-do list?"

Mandarin turned away and walked back to where he was standing before, with Antauri walking slowly behind him. "That is the boy's?"

Antauri looked at the headstone, his sadness increasing slowly. A colder wind blew now, biting into his flat toes. _Here lies Chiro _(no last name), _a boy turned into a leader and universal hero. The Chosen One. _"He has a name, Mandarin. And yes. It is."

"I'm terribly sorry about that." the orange primate amended. "I will try to remember in future." He turned to the grave next to Chiro's. "And whose is that?"

Antauri swallowed, looking at the city buildings absently. "His beloved. She still seemed...so young..."

"Hmm." Mandarin slipped into deep thought. "I am not familiar with the story. Was she not a robotic machine? Antauri, if you would inform me?"

"Crushed." Antauri said brusquely. "In a road accident. Totally crushed, every system destroyed. In a few months it will be her day. Four years, it's been."

"Ah." Mandarin looked off into the distant horizon.

"You've changed, Mandarin." the silver monkey stated again. Antauri pushed forward. "You have still not answered me. Why are you here today? What are you doing?"

"Would you believe me," the orange monkey said slowly, "if I said that I didn't know exactly?"

Antauri scowled. "That does not help me one bit."

"And what of you, Antauri?" Mandarin countered. "What are_ you_ doing?"

Antauri squared his shoulders. "Protecting the legacy."

"Why do you say that I have changed when you have not taken a look at yourself?" Mandarin cackled. "Look at you! You've a new look, a new personality, a new purpose. How much _precisely_ have _you _yourself changed?"

Antauri automatically brought out his claws again. "That," he said hotly, "could not be helped."

Mandarin gestured at himself, at his frayed cloak. "And I could not help this transformation."

Antauri raised an eyebrow. "And what transformation was that? How is it you are here now and not dead long ago?"

The orange monkey shrugged. "It came at a great cost, I will tell you that much. I am as undead as he once was."

"I suppose then that we shall be seeing the end of time together."

"We shall indeed." Mandarin grinned.

"You have changed."

Mandarin let out a muted sigh. "And haven't we all?" he whispered.

The silver monkey glanced once again to the yellow tulips. Antauri turned his back on Mandarin and walked away, the wind whirling between his legs and tail.

"Dig your own grave, Mandarin." he said.

Mandarin 'humph'ed to himself. "But dearest brother Antauri, we will both be doing that." And soon, he stood alone in the forgotten graveyard.

The dim sky screamed with loneliness, drenching Shuggazoom City with rain.

**Am I very happy to get a SRMTHFG fanfic idea after working on a Phantom of the Opera fanfic for a month? Yes. (By the way, if anyone here likes PotO, head over to APennyForYourThought.) Did I enjoy writing that? Yes. Even though I spent 3.5 hours on it last night? Yes. Am I very proud of it? Yes.**

**_RANDOM INFORMATION: _Yellow tulips were used at my uncle's wedding. In the bouquet and on my uncle's suit jacket. XD**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed that and if anyone has some fic requests they would like to make, feel free to review or PM! Really, I'm bored and I've got no inspiration. Any constructive criticsm would be very much appreciated, like _say if I made Antauri or Mandarin OOC or not,_ since I'm a little concerned about that.**

**And farewell, my lovely readers. For now. (cape-swish and vanishes)**

**Yeah, I like cape-swishes.**


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